Mathew Maria: Chapter 1

Mathew Maria

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The Book

Mathew Maria is a juvenile fiction novel. It is written at a fourth grade reading level. It is appropriate for all ages. It is especially appropriate for young children, but they may need a bit of help reading it. That's okay. Being read to is good for you.

Inside this book, one may or may not find an underwater water bed. There may or may not be a party in an orange tree. The weather may or may not be a bit stormy. You'll just have to read to find out.

Mathew Maria Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Martin Family

In a small town on a long, long street lived the Martin family. There was Mr. Martin, and Mrs. Martin, and their five children. The youngest was named Mathew Maria.

The seven Martins lived together in a great big house in the exact middle of the long, long street, at number 21 Hummingbird Lane. Mr. Martin was a wonderful gardener with red hair and a green thumb. Everything he planted would grow up strong and healthy. Mrs. Martin was an inventor. She could build just about anything she could imagine. Once, she had built a rocket that went to the moon. She could also make wonderful toys for their children, like dolls that danced or paints that erased.

The four girls, Melanie, Moira, Mia, and Mary, were very ordinary little girls. They all looked just like their mother and had long blond hair and green eyes. Melanie was the eldest. Then came Moira and Mia, who were twins, and then Mary. Except for Melanie being the tallest and Mary the shortest, each of them looked exactly like the other. Mathew Maria was different.

Mathew Maria was not a boy. Mathew Maria was a girl. She was the youngest of all her sisters, and she had red hair, like her father. Her hair was not long and straight either. It curled and frizzed, and stuck out from her head like a lion’s mane. One of her eyes was green, like her sisters’, but the other was blue. Melanie, Moira, Mia, and Mary were all tall for their age. But Mathew Maria was very small. When she was six years old, she looked like she was two. Mathew Maria didn’t mind being small.

“The world is a much bigger, grander place when you are small, than when you are big,” she said once, “I’m very small, so my world is very grand.”

Before Mathew Maria was born, the Martin family had only girls. Mr. Martin and Mrs. Martin loved their four girls, but they wished very much to also have a son. And then a new baby was going to be born, and all the doctors said it was going to be a boy. The Martin family was overjoyed.

“I shall call him Mathew,” Mr. Martin said, “After my father.” Mrs. Martin agreed that Mathew was a good name for a boy.

“What shall his middle name be?” she asked. But Mr. Martin didn’t know. They made a long list of names they both liked, but still they couldn’t decide. They were all good names.

Then the baby was born, and it wasn’t a boy at all. It was a girl. Mr. Martin was very happy that she was born. He was also very sad, because he had so wanted to name her after his father. He had spent months planning her name.

“Oh, well,” said Mrs. Martin, “We can call her Maria.” But Mr. Martin did not want to change the baby’s name to Maria.

“Oh, no,” he said, “We said that this baby shall be called Mathew, and Mathew she shall be.”

“She can’t be named Mathew,” Mrs. Martin said, “Mathew is a boy’s name.”

“I don’t care,” said Mr. Martin, “A name is a name, and Mathew is a good name. I don’t see why only boys should get it.” And he wrote the name Mathew on her birth certificate. Then he looked at his long list of middle names. There were eighteen boy names written there, because he never could decide on just one. He still couldn’t decide on just one. Finally, he decided to give her every single one of those names.

“After all,” he said, “No one can have too many names.”

And so she was given the full name of Mathew Theodore Benjamin Liam David Christopher Robert Luke Joey Jonathan Richard Spencer Bruce Donald Timothy Henry Anthony Michael Robin Martin. He showed this name to his wife.

“I still say Maria is a good name,” said Mrs. Martin.

“Oh, no,” Mr. Martin said, “You chose the name for Melanie and Moira and Mia and Mary, so I will choose for this last one, and I choose Mathew.” But to please her, he added Maria to the end of her name, right after Robin and before Martin. Then Mrs. Martin agreed it was a good name.

“And for short,” Mr. Martin said, “We can call her Mathew Maria.” And so from that day on, that is what she was called.

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